I decided to book AA Premium Economy on the FCO-DFW flight for our upcoming trip (April/May 2022) to Italy. Business on American would take 300K miles per person. We could have flown on British Airways in Business for a mere 57.5K miles, plus over $400 per person in fees. I'll take Premium Economy on American over BA Business.
With that said, I've never actually flown in American's Premium Economy cabin. If you have, please let me know what to expect!
If you google it, you will find lots of video reviews by travel bloggers.
I think premium economy is a good value if it isn't more than $150 extra or so. It's not anything close to business, imagine it is like what air travel used to be 30 years ago. We flew to Singapore in Premium Economy and it was worth it. you are more likely to sleep and there is a benefit to being one of the first people off of the plane, especially if your connection is tight.
I agree with Shannon's description.
There were good prices when it was first introduced, and I enjoyed my one experience.
Here’s a link that should answer your question: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/seats/premium-economy.jsp.
I've flown AA Premium Economy Paris and also to Hawaii.....it beats main cabin and even main cabin extra especially for a lengthy and/or a long overnight flight. If you can I'd recommend the the first row of sets on the bulkhead...you have more room and the a better leg rest than the other PE rows.
Thanks - I've already Googled "American Airlines Premium Economy", but I value the opinions of many people on this Forum and I was hoping for their observations.
I've flown on American's Premium Economy to Europe and it was a much nicer experience than regular economy. The seats were a little bit wider (not much, but enough to be noticeable), there was a bit more room between rows, and best of all the seats had an actual footrest which was very nice. Overall I felt it was worth the extra $ without having to pay a lot more for Business Class.
We've done Deltas version a few times and found it worth the extra not just the seat but earlier boarding, dedicated overhead bin space.
Someone mentioned getting the bulkhead seat for extra leg room but beware, it's not always the best choice. Get a plane layout diagram and check the details. We took a transatlantic flight in a bulkhead seat. Yes extra leg room and easy in/out of your seat but it was also right next to a toilet for the entire economy section and the kitchen. Not a wink of sleep.
It can depend on the plane. I flew AA premium economy from Miami to Milan in 2018, and it was very nice. Wider seats, more leg room, high-standard audio for the movies & a personal screen, and foot rests. The flight back from Milan to Miami was a different plane, not quite as nice. The leg room and seat width were probably the same, but instead of having your own movie/TV screen on the seat back in front of you, there was only one movie playing at the time on a screen up front. And yes, watch the location of the seats. I was very close to the restroom (which I knew when I booked, but whatcha gonna do) and the door slammed every time someone used it. At least that flight wasn't overnight....Good decision to pay extra for premium economy, though.
I cannot speak to AA PE, but flew United Brussels->Dullas in 2019 and it was quite nice. Wider seat, better recline w/ footrest. Plated meals with china/glassware, metal flatware, and cloth napkin. I was supposed to fly Denver->Munich outbound on Lufthansa metal, but the engine check light came on when we got out to the end of the runway in Portland (PDX->DEN) and I missed the connection. Ended up SFO->MUC later in the day in vanilla economy, which turned out to be a flight from hell, but that is another story.
Check SeatGuru.com for seating info as well as passenger comments. You will need airline, flight info and type of plane to get details. The airline will probably change everything before you get near to flight time, but you can get a pretty good idea of which areas to avoid.
We have flown in that class three times. We like to get the two-together seats on either side of the plane so there’s no one in the row with us.
We flew American's Premium Economy home from London in January 2020. We were on a newer 787 and the seats were definitely an upgrade over economy. My husband is 6-5 and said there was plenty of knee room. Because he's so tall, he struggles in business to get comfortable on the lay flat beds so he would prefer to fly in Premium econ especially for day flights.
There is another negative to the bulkhead seats. That is where a portacrib can be attached for passengers flying with infants. We once had an experience. During boarding, a FA asked us if we would be willing to relinquish our seats to a couple with a baby. I refused, arguing that they knew they had a baby and should have paid for premium economy with the crib. She must have found some kinder people because we heard nothing more. Later, someone told me that we could actually have been ordered to give up our seats.
Also, one risks being near a screaming baby.
Rosalyn - That's a pet peeve of mine!
American had a "web special" this morning, dropping the price of Business seats to 125K miles. So I cancelled the Premium Economy awards and re-booked the same flights in Business/First Class! American even refunded the booking fees. Life is good!
Estimate Prophet - This is awesome! If I wasn't going to be travelling with two kids next summer I would totally splurge and get the business.
And I wasn't trying to be snarky when I suggested you google for the videos. I didn't know if you knew that bloggers did that or not.
Happy travels!
